‘Disclosure Day’ REVIEW: Spielbergian sci-fi at its best
‘Disclosure Day’ REVIEW: Spielbergian sci-fi at its best
I’ve always believed that we can’t be alone in the universe. Ever since I was a child, I believed in aliens and the fact that there was probably something bigger than us. In childhood, perhaps out of a desire to have something fantastical happen to me, and in adulthood, because to think otherwise strikes me as arrogant.
Emily Blunt as Margaret Fairchild and Josh O’Connor as Daniel Kellner / Courtesy of Universal Pictures
It’s genuinely hard to write a review for this film. Mostly because I believe that you should go into it as blind as you can because its mystery rewards you for not knowing. In not knowing, you go on the same journey as Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor’s characters, Margaret and Daniel, respectively. Also, it’s genuinely a challenge to describe without spoiling anything. I will say that Disclosure Day is, in parts, a conspiracy thriller, and in others a compassionate modern fairy tale. In less capable hands, this would’ve been a mess. Not here.
If you are a lover of sci-fi and very specifically how Spielberg does sci-fi, there’s a lot to dig your teeth into. This film muses on what we would do if the unknown reached back to us, especially in an age inundated with fake news and AI. Would we believe it? Would they still be frightening, despite us having heard stories of aliens for years and years? What would we do if we found out they’ve actually been on Earth?
Delaney Cuthbert as Margaret Fairchild / Courtesy of Universal Pictures
At the center of Disclosure Day is connection. Our connection with each other, with stories, with faith, with language, and how we understand each other. Like so many great sci-fi stories before it, and even some authored by this same director, sci-fi has always been about exploring humanity’s connections with the unknown to us. In particular, two scenes that touched me deeply are a conversation about faith in the presence of knowing there are higher beings in the universe, and a scene where Daniel helps ground Margaret during a panic attack. In those scenes, I saw a desire for connection that felt very human and real in the face of the absurdities happening around them. Whether it’s space exploration or aliens, our desire to explore, connect, and understand the unknown is what grounds the best sci-fi stories, and that’s no different here.
The performances in this film are next-level. Blunt gives an absolutely stunning performance as Margaret. Equal parts vulnerable, clever, and open to the wonders that are revealed to her. O’ Connor as Daniel is a wounded, skeptical man who feels unfit to carry the secrets foisted on him by the world. Colman Domingo and Colin Firth serve as narrative foils to each other — both men driven by their need to fulfil what they see as the right thing to do in the face of all this knowledge. It’s truly an ensemble cast as everyone gets to shine under Spielberg’s wing.
Courtesy of Universal Pictures
I think that this is an interesting film to come out in an age of fake news and AI-generated media, especially from a celebrated director. It asks us to question who we allow to have control of knowledge or humanity’s story. If a story is suppressed, why? Do we have the right to know? Who should get to decide?
As I sat in the movie theatre, watching people file out, I found myself returning to my idea of what aliens would be like if we met them. I’d like to think they’d be kind. Of course, influenced by Spielberg’s portrayals like E.T and the other aliens that I grew up seeing in films and TV. But maybe the question now isn’t if aliens would be kind to us. Maybe it’s if we, as humans, would be kind back.
‘Disclosure Day’ is now showing in Philippine cinemas.
